Dallas was fun

We had a great time in Dallas with Leslie's brother Stephen, fiancee Lisa, and Lisa's 8-year old son Ethan. Because they're getting married in September and we obviously won't be around, we were glad to spend some one-on-one time with them. They showed us a really great time, including a fun family Mother's Day gathering they hosted at their house, which was attended by Lisa's parents, her cousin and her aunt. We helped plan and execute the menu with Stephen while the others were at church. It included Chipotle grilled chicken, a strawberry Gorgonzola and walnut salad, rice and various fruits and veggies. We were also able to rid their kitchen of the largest Costco bottle of Riesling.

Speaking of Costco, we found a 320 gig USB hard drive for $170, and it's not much bigger than a deck of cards. We decided not to buy another computer, so the extra space for music and pictures really worked out great; and it doesn't require an additional power supply. We bought an 80 gig drive about 6 months ago for a little more than half that price and it was way bulkier. We feel like we won the jackpot with the new one.

The challenge as we wind down our time stateside is eating and drinking all our favorites, but to not outgrow our clothes in the joviality. Results have been mixed, to say the least. We need to exercise more moderation and exercise more, period.

Leslie received word that she got and A- on her final thesis. All that's left is the results from her final paper in her supervision class. Graduation is next week and we're confident everything should fine.

Our going away open house is this weekend at 3PM. Some of our favorite people in the world will be joining us for lunch, etc. at Nathan's parents' in Ohio. Some people we were hoping to see before we left won't be there for various reasons, but we'll still have a good time.

We're selling our car to Nathan's dad this weekend. With the cash from that, we'll pay off the credit card debt we've mounted in last few months.

The countdown continues...